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Head-to-head · every figure from the vendor documents

HPE DL380a Gen11 vs HPE DL380a Gen12

A specification-by-specification comparison of the HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11 and the HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12, built from HPE’s own documents. 1 headline measure favours the DL380a Gen11, 5 favour the DL380a Gen12, and they share no processors.

Bottom line. DL380a Gen12 leads on virtualisation, databases and in-memory work, AI and acceleration. Neither vendor publishes benchmarks for these machines, so every call here is made on what their documents state.

HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11 front: eight 2.5-inch NVMe bays in the centre between two perforated GPU cage grilles, with the model badge on the right ear
HPE ProLiant
DL380a Gen11
2U Rack2 sockets24 DIMMHPE iLO 6
Configure the DL380a Gen11 →Full data sheet
VS
HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 4U front with the bezel fitted, NVMe drive cages along the lower edge and the model badge on the right ear
HPE ProLiant
DL380a Gen12
4U Rack2 sockets32 DIMMHPE iLO 7
Configure the DL380a Gen12 →Full data sheet
01 — Scoreboard

The measures that decide it

Each row is a figure both vendors publish. Bars show the split between the two; a badge marks the larger figure, which is not always the better buy — a shallower chassis or a lower power ceiling can matter more.

2
Processor sockets
2
128
Cores, fully populated
Largest listed processor × its socket count
Higher288
3 TB
Memory ceiling
As each document states it
Higher8 TB
8
Drive bays
Higher16
Up to 8
Accelerators
HigherUp to 10
2,200 W
Largest power supply
Higher3,200 W
2U RackHigher
Rack height
4U Rack
400 GbE class
Fastest network option
400 GbE class
02 — Verdict

Which one, and why

Drawn from the measures above and each model’s own data sheet. Neither vendor publishes benchmark results for these servers, so nothing here claims one is “faster”.

Choose the DL380a Gen11 if…

  • Rack height: 2U Rack against 4U Rack on the DL380a Gen12
  • Four double-wide or eight single-wide accelerators in a 2U chassis, with six NVIDIA and Intel cards in HPE’s GPU table spanning the 72 W L4 to the 400 W H100 NVL.

Choose the DL380a Gen12 if…

  • Cores, fully populated: 288 against 128 on the DL380a Gen11
  • Memory ceiling: 8 TB against 3 TB on the DL380a Gen11
  • Drive bays: 16 against 8 on the DL380a Gen11
  • Ten double-wide GPU positions in 4U, with the H200 NVL, RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, RTX PRO 6000D, L40S, L20 and L4 in HPE’s accelerator list.
03 — By workload

Where each one pulls ahead

Calls made on documented capacity only — cores, memory, bays, accelerators and network options — with the figures behind each one shown.

VirtualisationDL380a Gen11: 128 cores with 3 TB. DL380a Gen12: 288 cores with 8 TB.DL380a Gen12
Databases & in-memoryMemory ceiling 3 TB against 8 TB, across 24 and 32 DIMM slots.DL380a Gen12
Storage density8 bays in 2U against 16 in 4U.Line ball
AI & acceleration8 accelerators against 10 in the vendor documents.DL380a Gen12
Network throughputFastest card listed: 400 GbE class against 400 GbE class.Line ball
04 — Specifications

Side by side, differences first

Everything both documents state, grouped. The default view hides rows where the two machines are identical.

Processors

Every processor each vendor lists for the model, from its own document.

SpecificationDL380a Gen11DL380a Gen12
Processors listed4132
Most cores per processor64144
Processor families4th Gen Xeon Scalable · 5th Gen Xeon ScalableXeon 6 E-core · Xeon 6 P-core

Memory

SpecificationDL380a Gen11DL380a Gen12
DIMM slots2432
Slots per processor1216
Largest module listed128 GB256 GB
Fastest rated speed5,600 MT/s6,400 MT/s
Memory typesRDIMM DDR5-4800 (HPE DDR5 Smart Memory, Registered) · RDIMM DDR5-5600 (HPE DDR5 Smart Memory, Registered)RDIMM DDR5-6400

Storage

Bay counts are the maximum each document states, including rear and mid-chassis positions.

SpecificationDL380a Gen11DL380a Gen12
Maximum bays816
Boot devicesHPE NS204i-u Gen11 NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage DeviceHPE NS204i-u v2 960GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device · HPE NS204i-u v2 960GB NVMe SED Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device · HPE NS204i-u v2 480GB NVMe Hot Plug Boot Optimized Storage Device + 1 more
Storage controllers57

Accelerators & I/O

SpecificationDL380a Gen11DL380a Gen12
Accelerators supportedUp to 8Up to 10
PCIe network slots46
Network cards listed3236

Power & platform

SpecificationDL380a Gen11DL380a Gen12
Power-supply options23
Output range1,600–2,200 W2,400–3,200 W
Input typesACAC · 277 VAC / HVDC
ManagementHPE iLO 6HPE iLO 7
Chassis depthVendors measure depth differently — see each data sheet81.6 cm / 32.13 in deep (server)80.26 cm (31.60 in) deep
05 — The data

Processors, memory, bays and power

The same charts each data sheet carries, drawn to the same scale so the two ranges can be read against each other.

DL380a Gen11: processors by cores and TDP

HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11 processors0816243240485664100 W150 W200 W250 W300 W350 WCores per processorIntel Xeon-Platinum 8480+ — 56 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8470 — 52 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8468 — 48 cores · 350 W · 2.1 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8468V — 48 cores · 330 W · 2.4 GHz base · 97.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8458P — 44 cores · 350 W · 2.7 GHz base · 82.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8460Y+ — 40 cores · 300 W · 2 GHz base · 105 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8452Y — 36 cores · 300 W · 2 GHz base · 67.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 9462 — 32 cores · 350 W · 2.7 GHz base · 75 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8462Y+ — 32 cores · 300 W · 2.8 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6454S — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.2 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6430 — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.1 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6448H — 32 cores · 250 W · 2.4 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6448Y — 32 cores · 225 W · 2.1 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6438Y+ — 32 cores · 205 W · 2 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6438M — 32 cores · 205 W · 2.2 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 5420+ — 28 cores · 205 W · 2 GHz base · 52.5 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6442Y — 24 cores · 225 W · 2.6 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 5418Y — 24 cores · 185 W · 2 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6418H — 24 cores · 185 W · 2.1 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Silver 4416+ — 20 cores · 165 W · 2 GHz base · 37.5 MB cache · DDR5-4000Intel Xeon-Gold 6444Y — 16 cores · 270 W · 3.6 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6426Y — 16 cores · 185 W · 2.5 GHz base · 37.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6434 — 8 cores · 195 W · 3.7 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Platinum 8592+ — 64 cores · 350 W · 1.9 GHz base · 320 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Platinum 8580 — 60 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Platinum 8570 — 56 cores · 350 W · 2.1 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Platinum 8568Y+ — 48 cores · 350 W · 2.3 GHz base · 300 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Platinum 8558 — 48 cores · 330 W · 2.1 GHz base · 260 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Platinum 8562Y+ — 32 cores · 300 W · 2.8 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon-Gold 6530 — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.1 GHz base · 160 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6548Y+ — 32 cores · 250 W · 2.5 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Gold 6538Y+ — 32 cores · 225 W · 2.2 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Gold 5520+ — 28 cores · 205 W · 2.2 GHz base · 52.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 6542Y — 24 cores · 250 W · 2.9 GHz base · 60 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Silver 4516Y+ — 24 cores · 185 W · 2.2 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6544Y — 16 cores · 270 W · 3.6 GHz base · 45 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Gold 6526Y — 16 cores · 195 W · 2.8 GHz base · 37.5 MB cache · DDR5-5200Intel Xeon-Silver 4514Y — 16 cores · 150 W · 2 GHz base · 30 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Gold 6534 — 8 cores · 195 W · 3.9 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Gold 5515+ — 8 cores · 165 W · 3.2 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-4800Intel Xeon-Silver 4509Y — 8 cores · 125 W · 2.6 GHz base · 22.5 MB cache · DDR5-4400Intel Xeon-Platinum 8592+64 cores · 5.5 W/core — top SKU and most efficient
4th Gen Xeon Scalable 235th Gen Xeon Scalable 18Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

DL380a Gen12: processors by cores and TDP

HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 processors081624324048566472808896104112120128136144150 W200 W250 W300 W350 WCores per processorIntel Xeon 6780E — 144 cores · 330 W · 2.2 GHz base · 108 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6766E — 144 cores · 250 W · 1.9 GHz base · 108 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6756E — 128 cores · 225 W · 1.8 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6746E — 112 cores · 250 W · 2 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon 6740E — 96 cores · 250 W · 2.4 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6710E — 64 cores · 205 W · 2.4 GHz base · 96 MB cache · DDR5-5600Intel Xeon 6787P — 86 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6788P — 86 cores · 350 W · 2 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6767P — 64 cores · 350 W · 2.4 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6776P — 64 cores · 350 W · 2.3 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6760P — 64 cores · 330 W · 2.2 GHz base · 320 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6768P — 64 cores · 330 W · 2.4 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6747P — 48 cores · 330 W · 2.7 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6748P — 48 cores · 300 W · 2.5 GHz base · 192 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6740P — 48 cores · 270 W · 2.1 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6736P — 36 cores · 205 W · 2 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6732P — 32 cores · 350 W · 3.8 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6745P — 32 cores · 300 W · 3.1 GHz base · 336 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6737P — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.9 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6738P — 32 cores · 270 W · 2.9 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6730P — 32 cores · 250 W · 2.5 GHz base · 288 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6530P — 32 cores · 225 W · 2.3 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6527P — 24 cores · 255 W · 3 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6520P — 24 cores · 210 W · 2.4 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6728P — 24 cores · 210 W · 2.7 GHz base · 144 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6725P — 16 cores · 235 W · 3.7 GHz base · 192 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6724P — 16 cores · 210 W · 3.6 GHz base · 72 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6517P — 16 cores · 190 W · 3.2 GHz base · 72 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6515P — 16 cores · 150 W · 2.3 GHz base · 72 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6505P — 12 cores · 150 W · 2.2 GHz base · 48 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6714P — 8 cores · 165 W · 4 GHz base · 48 MB cache · DDR5-6400Intel Xeon 6507P — 8 cores · 150 W · 3.5 GHz base · 48 MB cache · DDR5-64006780E144 cores — the top SKU6766E1.7 W/core — most efficient
Xeon 6 E-core 6Xeon 6 P-core 26Bubble size = L3 cache · hover a bubble for the full SKU

DL380a Gen11: memory with every slot filled

16 GB384 GB32 GB768 GB64 GB1.5 TB96 GB2.3 TB128 GB3 TB24 slots · 12 per processor · each tick = one DIMM

DL380a Gen12: memory with every slot filled

16 GB512 GB32 GB1 TB64 GB2 TB96 GB3 TB128 GB4 TB256 GB8 TB32 slots · 16 per processor · each tick = one DIMM

DL380a Gen11: drive bays

Front panel

8 × EDSFF NVMe at the front — 8 bays in total.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

DL380a Gen12: drive bays

Front panel

4 × 2.5" NVMe at the front — 4 bays in total.

SAS/SATANVMeSAS/SATA + NVMe

DL380a Gen11: power supplies

050010001500200025001600 W Platinum — HPE 1600W Flex Slot Platinum Hot Plug Low Halogen Power Supply Kit. Standard Features prose: '1 available in 94% efficiency'. Rated line voltage 200-240 VAC only. Rated steady-state and peak power 1600W at 240 VAC (and 240 VDC China only). Max BTU 5918 BTU/hr at 200 VAC. Not one of the part numbers cited as meeting the 96% single-output EU ErP Lot 9 requirement.1600Platinum2200 W Titanium — HPE 1800W-2200W Flex Slot Titanium Hot Plug Power Supply Kit - printed as a 1800W-2200W range part, output depends on input voltage (1800W-2200W at 200-240 VAC; 2200W at 240 VDC China only). Standard Features prose: '1 available in 96% efficiency'. Rated line voltage 200-240 VAC. Max BTU 6497 BTU/hr at 200 VAC, 7962 BTU/hr at 240 VAC. Cited as EU ErP Lot 9 compliant (96% single output). watts recorded as the 2200W top of the printed range.2200TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC

DL380a Gen12: power supplies

05001000150020002500300035002400 W Titanium — HPE M-CRPS family (Modular Common Redundant Power Supply); P67252-B21 named in the EU ErP Lot 9 section as 96% efficient; C19/C19-C20 power cords only; 2400W or 3200W required for H100 NVL / H200 NVL / RTX Pro 6000 GPUs2400Titanium2800 W Titanium — HPE M-CRPS family; 277VAC input unit (added in Version 16, 04-May-2026); no efficiency percentage or BTU figure printed for this unit2800Titanium3200 W Titanium — HPE M-CRPS family; P67248-B21 named in the EU ErP Lot 9 section as 96% efficient; C19/C19-C20 power cords only; 2400W or 3200W required for H100 NVL / H200 NVL / RTX Pro 6000 GPUs3200TitaniumWatts · dashed line = output at 100–120 V low line
AC277 VAC / HVDC
07 — Questions

DL380a Gen11 vs DL380a Gen12, answered

Is the DL380a Gen11 or the DL380a Gen12 the faster server?

Neither document publishes benchmark results, so this page compares what they do state. The DL380a Gen11 lists 41 processors up to 64 cores at 350 W; the DL380a Gen12 lists 32 up to 144 cores at 350 W. Fully populated that is 128 cores against 288.

Which holds more memory?

The DL380a Gen11 has 24 DIMM slots and a stated ceiling of 3.0 TB. The DL380a Gen12 has 32 and 8.0 TB.

Which takes more drives?

DL380a Gen11: 8 bays across 2 documented layouts. DL380a Gen12: 16 across 2. Counts include rear and mid-chassis positions where the vendor documents them.

Can either take GPUs?

DL380a Gen11: up to 8 accelerators, 0 double-wide cards listed. DL380a Gen12: up to 10, 0 double-wide listed.

Do they share any processors?

No. The two documents list different processors, so a like-for-like processor build is not possible across these two.

Where these figures come from. DL380a Gen11: HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11 QuickSpecs (Version 34 - August 3, 2026) (HPE document). DL380a Gen12: HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 QuickSpecs (Version 20 - 08-Sep-2026) (HPE document). Each claim on this page is derived from those documents, checked page by page on the two data sheets, and carries no pricing.

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